PATSY R. BRUMFIELD: Spring garden’s all done

We gardening mortals wait to see what the weather gods have in store for our utter arrogance this past weekend.
Yes, if you are like me, you spent Good Friday and Holy Saturday in a state of planting frenzy.
What a beautiful day! I knew rain was likely Friday night, so I got down to business as soon as the day warmed up. I’d spent my nice March weekends getting the garden soil into better shape, and finally, the joyous planting was at hand. It also was nice to get a shout-out or a wave from passersby driving or walking up the little slip of a street that runs beside my urban “farm.”
The garden always takes a little rearranging, and that’s what I’d mulled over those cold days.
My sunniest spot in the lower garden goes to corn, peppers and cucumbers. It’s also home to peas, two kinds of pole beans, herbs and onions. And joy of joys, my last-year’s asparagus has come budding up just like the planting directions said it would. Tastes so good, especially just to snap them off and pop them in my mouth!
The upper garden, which gets sun all day long, is a tribute to tomatoes, eggplants and zucchini.
Perhaps the yard’s finest new feature is my hops trellis, rising out of a shiny oval watering trough. You should see those hops – they are growing like mad up the supports.
So long as it’s still illegal in the state of Mississippi to brew your own beer, for which hops are a key ingredient, I will publicly admire my setup for its vine value.
For a bit of tacky, as if I needed more, I’ve converted a small child’s blue plastic swimming pool into the base of operations for my cantaloupe and watermelon crops.
I’ve made a local Facebook friend, who’s been kind enough to offer her small truck in which I can haul free city compost and mulch.
I’m going to surround the “pool” with it, like they do so well on the Ole Miss campus, and defy the weeds to even think about sticking their heads up.
I know my garden guru, Byron, was shaking his head a little bit when I left with those eggplants and tomatoes last weekend. He fears it’s going to come a frost in April. Something about thunder in February.
I, too, have weather concerns, as does every other serious gardener out there.
But remember last April, when none of us could do much out there except run from a constant, cold downpour?
I’m probably not alone in taking my chances out there in the warm sunshine.
It’s a season for renewal, and it certainly revives my spirits.
All that digging and squatting and walking. Sounds like exercise to some folks.
Sounds like joy to me.

Contact Patsy R. Brumfield at (662) 678-1596 or patsy.brumfield@djournal.com. Read Patsy’s blog, From the Front Row, on NEMS360.com or follow her on Twitter or Facebook.